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| 2008 Rally Japan : WRC Round 14 of 15 : 31st October - 2nd November In this issue: 1. Leg 2 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 2 News 3. Event Links 4. Leg 2 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 6. Subscription Information 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 21min 31.8sec 2. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 21min 47.3sec 3. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 22min 25.3sec 4. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 2hr 23min 57.8sec 5. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 2hr 26min 03.4sec 6. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 2hr 26min 10.3sec 7. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 2hr 26min 43.6sec 8. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 2hr 31min 31.4sec 9. J Ketomaa/M Stenberg FIN Subaru Impreza 2hr 33min 18.2sec 10 E Novikov/D Moscatt RUS Mitsubishi Lancer 2hr 34min 01.3sec 2. Leg News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team maintained its firm grip of the leading positions in Rally Japan during today's hugely challenging second leg in the forests near Sapporo. Day one pacesetters Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen retained their lead of this 14th and penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Finns headed team-mates and fellow countrymen Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila by 15.5sec as they reached the final overnight halt of this three-day event. Behind Hirvonen and Latvala, Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) retained third, the Frenchman's only problem coming this afternoon when he dropped time on a badly rutted stage. Petter Solberg (Subaru) climbed to fourth this morning ahead of team-mate Chris Atkinson, but retired with smashed rear suspension after hitting a hole and spinning in the final countryside test. Atkinson survived a 360 degree spin after hitting the same hole. Stobart driver Matthew Wilson (Ford) climbed to fifth after a steady day, with Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) rounding off the top six. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) dropped two minutes and two places with a puncture this afternoon. The Swede is now seventh. Munchi's driver Henning Solberg (Ford) retired from sixth after stage 17 with broken suspension. Drivers face another nine stages during the final day's competition. After a 06.00 start from Sapporo, the route again heads south towards the cost at Tomokamai. Competitors face two identical loops of four tests, split by a final pass through the Sapporo Dome super special stage, providing 96.43km of competition. The finish takes place in the Dome at 15.00. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team maintained its firm grip of the leading positions in Rally Japan during today's hugely challenging second leg in the forests near Sapporo. Day one pacesetters Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen retained their lead of this 14th and penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Finns headed team-mates and fellow countrymen Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila by 15.5sec as they reached the final overnight halt of this three-day event. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Twenty-eight-year-old Hirvonen started today with a 26.2sec lead but lost a small part of that after swiping a fence with the rear of his Focus RS WRC on the opening test. He avoided problems on the remaining three stages to end the morning loop with a 16.9sec lead over Latvala. Despite deteriorating conditions, Hirvonen won two afternoon stages to extend his advantage, before Latvala narrowed it again through the two Dome tests. "It was quite a nervewracking day," he said. "The roads were much faster and it took a while for me to get used to that after the narrow, twisty stages yesterday. This afternoon there were ruts everywhere but I couldn't afford to ease my pace too much. The conditions were difficult and Jari-Matti drove quickly behind me. The strangest moment came this morning when I lost my rhythm after I had to slow when two deer ran across the road in front of me. "I came to Japan looking for a victory but even if I achieve that tomorrow, it looks like that won't help my championship challenge now. Tomorrow's stages are soft but they shouldn't be as slippery, so I hope we have an easier time," added Hirvonen. #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: Latvala powered to fastest time on the morning's third test and added another stage win this afternoon as the 23-year-old focused his attentions on staying ahead of third-placed Sébastien Loeb. "I succeeded in doing that. Maybe he drove carefully in the ruts but, if so, it made my life easier. I needed to drive fast because I didn't want Seb close to me, but equally I didn't want to put Mikko under pressure, so I followed Seb's split times in the stages," he said. "I drove cautiously through the first two stages and then stepped up my pace," said Latvala. "I wanted to find the right balance and not risk too much, before increasing my speed when I found my confidence. This afternoon I punctured a tyre on the first stage of the loop so I drove a little more cautiously because I had only one spare in the car and another puncture would have meant the end of my rally. In these conditions the only thing to do was follow the ruts and be brave. The tactic was to keep all four wheels in the ruts, like a train track," added Latvala. Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second leg of the 2008 Rally Japan took place in sunny weather and saw Citroën Sport enjoy a particularly positive run. Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and their C4 WRC succeeded in consolidating their third place which, if the situation remains unchanged tomorrow, will be enough to hand them a fifth consecutive World Championship title. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí put in a strong performance, too, as they carved their way back up the leaderboard in the Citroën Total squad's second car. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: Of the nine virtues listed in the Bushido code of honour which governs the life of all samurais, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena demonstrated two in the course of their performance today. Seigyo, to begin with, which consists in controlling one's instincts, and the instinct of Seb and Daniel is generally to go as quickly as possible! "It's no secret that I prefer competing to win," smiled Sébastien at the final service park. "Today, though, it was necessary to keep a cool head. The forest tracks to the south of Sapporo were just as narrow as those we visited on Day 1, but they were faster, too, which means we ran a higher risk of making a mistake."Seb and Daniel added Ken to their gift for self control, Ken being the sense of humility dear to the samurais. "Whenever I felt that the conditions were a little too treacherous, I didn't hesitate to brake earlier than normal," admitted the four-time World Champion. "There's a great deal at stake here and I didn't want it risk throwing it all away; we just tried to stay focused on our objective which was to consolidate our third place, and I think we succeeded quite well. There is a little less than 100km of stages to come tomorrow. The goal we are aiming for is within reach, but we will need to stay concentrated until the very end." #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: Samurai values were equally present inside the cockpit of the N°2 Citroën C4 WRC, with Dani Sordo and Marc Martí showing true Yuukan, namely bravery. "Following our turbo problem yesterday," related Dani, "we were obviously under much less pressure to obtain a top result. We began the day in 63rd place and we were able to push as hard as we saw fit, although the conditions didn't facilitate our task. Running 11th on the road, we came across a great deal of churned up mud and there was very little grip. We also tackled some of the afternoon's loop after nightfall, although that didn't prevent us from going quickly and posting some decent times. We profited from the day to try different settings, too. We intend to carry on at the same sort of pace tomorrow and perhaps try to pick up some championship points for Citroën." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 Just as was demonstrated yesterday, this afternoon proved a severe sting in the tail for the Subaru World Rally Team after another tough day of rallying in Japan. Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot continue to hold firm in fourth position overall, however after an emphatic stage victory for Petter Solberg and Phil Mills, the duo crashed out of contention in the midst of the Japan's foreboding forests. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: Solberg and Mills set a blistering pace to clinch a convincing stage win on SS12, the second longest of the rally. The Norwegian demonstrated all the flair that took him to the 2003 World Rally Championship title to beat rally-leader Mikko Hirvonen by 1.8 seconds in a tooth and nail scrap to secure a crucial triumph on Subaru's home event. However, as road conditions became more rutted and deteriorated significantly in the afternoon and the darkness set in, the scene was set for a last-minute shakeup of the leaderboard. Attacking hard and fighting with Sebastien Loeb for third place, Solberg and Mills ran into trouble on stage 18, the last proper test of the day before the final two spectator showpieces. The duo slid wide on a tricky left hander and spun, their Impreza suffering heavy right rear damage that forced them to retire from the day. "Of course it is disappointing and I must say sorry to the Subaru fans, but we have had some very good things from today" said Petter Solberg. "We came round a left hander on stage 18 and hit a large hole and the car just spun around. I went to start again but the rear geometry was all broken. We were pushing hard and sometimes things like this happen. It's disappointing, but honestly it has been a very good day. It was really good fun to drive and I really enjoyed it, and to win a stage is very good. We are definitely going in the right direction. We must look at the positives as there has been a lot good about today." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: Having been in fifth position after the morning's four stages, Atkinson and Prévot delivered a solid drive in the conditions to move back into fourth by the day's end. Their day was however not without drama too, spinning in exactly the same place as Solberg in the wake of his accident. They suffered less damage than their teammates however, and were able to complete the day with a comfortable advantage over Ford's Matthew Wilson behind them in fifth position. "Today was ok; we started ahead of Petter but he was a little quicker and got in front" said Chris Atkinson. "But then he had his accident which is unlucky for the team and the Subaru fans as we were both in good positions and you never know what could happen on this rally. In stage 18, when Petter went off it left a big hole in the ground and we hit it as well and spun round. We damaged our suspension a little bit, but ok we could drive still, but not flat out. I think we are too far behind to push for third tomorrow so the main aim is to keep our position." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin continue to battle on for the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team as they moved to fifth overall after day 2 of Rally Japan; round 14 of the FIA World Rally Championship. The young British driver advanced one place from his overnight position despite a less convincing day today where he struggled to find yesterday's rhythm and a good connection with his newly made pacenotes. However, his consistent and steady approach rewarded the youngster with a top-five finish by day's end and a strong points haul position for tomorrow's final tests. #7 : Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato: The latest news on the injuries of team-mate Patrick Pivato have come through this afternoon and he has now been in a stable condition for over six hours as doctors are happy with his progress; however the French co-driver still remains in a critical condition in intensive care. #8 : Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "We kept our noses clean today and although it hasn't been the best of performances it has worked out perfectly and we are in a solid spot to score good points for the Stobart team. Today has been one of the toughest days of rallying I have contested in a while. The stages, especially over the second pass, were extremely rough and rutted and it took a lot to stay out of trouble and I think this is represented by how much drama happened today with several other crews. Tomorrow we will try to get back to the speed we were setting on Friday and try to stay ahead of the guys running behind us." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 The second day of the Rally Japan took in ten more stages that were very different to those of the opening day, but the two Suzuki SX4 WRCs still displayed the pace and consistency that saw them both finish within the driver points at the end of Friday. After Saturday's action, Toni Gardemeister is in sixth place - having claimed Suzuki's first-ever stage win on SS19 - while P-G Andersson is just behind him in seventh, following a puncture that he had to stop and change on SS16. Earlier the young Swede and his SX4 WRC had shown some extremely promising pace, by setting second-fastest time on the opening stage of the day and climbing to joint fifth overall. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "I'm very proud to have recorded Suzuki's first stage win! But the day has been tricky for us. In the morning I think we drove quite well, although the stages were so slippery and difficult that it was hard to analyse exactly what was going on. Then in the afternoon we had a problem with the rear differential. Nonetheless, we've got to the end of the day within the driver points and our aim is to try and build on that tomorrow." #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: "What a day! It was a real shame we had the puncture, but the roads were so rough that it was inevitable this would happen to somebody. We came into a junction nine kilometres from the start and the soft ground just pulled the tyre off the wheel rim, so I had to stop and change it. That shouldn't take anything away from what has been an extremely positive day for us though. We've been second-fastest on a stage, fifth overall, and the car has been completely reliable: that's a sign of really solid progress." 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 2 November: Day 3 Sapporo - Sapporo Serv F Sapporo Dome (15 mins) 06.00 SS21 Koyka 1 3.57km 07.07 SS22 Iwanke 1 13.57km 07.56 SS23 Sikot 1 27.76km 08.21 SS24 Imeru 3 2.57km 08.53 SS25 Sapporo 5 1.49km 10.06 Serv G Sapporo Dome (30 mins) 10.36 SS26 Koyka 2 3.57km 11.58 SS27 Iwanke 2 13.57km 12.47 SS28 Sikot 2 27.76km 13.12 SS29 Imeru 4 2.57km 13.44 Serv H Sapporo Dome (10 mins) 14.30 Finish Sapporo Dome 15.00 |